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Mechanized planting - utopia or reality

Started by Nils Jonsson, February 09, 2021, 07:49:00 AM

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Nils Jonsson

Over here, Northern Europe/Sweden, there is a lot discussed if we can replace manual labor with machines to do the planting. The main reason for the discussion is that the Swedes refuse to plant and the people from former east Europe that have been planting for us for decades now, are getting fewer and fewer. I guess they have discovered they can make more money elsewhere? 
We actually have planting machines here, have had for at least 40 years, but they never seem to break through. They are either complicated, slow or both. It seems that as planting doesn't pay off immediately, the development of such machines haven't been interesting enough. Today, less than 1 % is planted here with machines. 
But maybe, just maybe, something will happen now? Today I read an article in another forum I'm following about a project where researchers, forest companies and a machine manufacturer will Strat looking at an autonomous machine system for planting. Read about it here. In the article there are also links to other articles about different machines that are already on the market (more or less). 
Are there any known machines for forest planting out there, except those mentioned in the above article? It would be very interesting to know ... 

Wudman

Labor has become a major issue for us here in the U.S.  We are trying to build out our mechanical tree planting ability.  Here the typical set-up is a Cat D-4 sized dozer with a V-blade pulling a wildland tree planter.  Planting quality and survival is significantly better than hand planting.  You are also able to plant larger nursery stock efficiently.  Historically, cost has been significantly higher as well.  With today's increased labor costs, that cost differential is narrowing.  Production is a major issue.  For us, in a wildland situation, a single tractor can plant about 15-20 acres per day.  It takes a lot of equipment to make the same production as a 15 man hand planting crew.

Wudman      
"You may tear down statues and burn buildings but you can't kill the spirit of patriots and when they've had enough this madness will end."
Charlie Daniels
July 4, 2020 (2 days before his death)

Nils Jonsson

Quote from: Wudman on February 09, 2021, 09:37:47 AM
Labor has become a major issue for us here in the U.S.  We are trying to build out our mechanical tree planting ability.  Here the typical set-up is a Cat D-4 sized dozer with a V-blade pulling a wildland tree planter.  Planting quality and survival is significantly better than hand planting.  You are also able to plant larger nursery stock efficiently.  Historically, cost has been significantly higher as well.  With today's increased labor costs, that cost differential is narrowing.  Production is a major issue.  For us, in a wildland situation, a single tractor can plant about 15-20 acres per day.  It takes a lot of equipment to make the same production as a 15 man hand planting crew.

Wudman      
Do you know where I can find a photo or film of a the "typical set-up" you mention? It sounds interesting. 

Wudman

This link should get you started.  There are a number of videos on YouTube with various equipment in action.

In Action: Wildland Pine Planting - YouTube

Wudman
"You may tear down statues and burn buildings but you can't kill the spirit of patriots and when they've had enough this madness will end."
Charlie Daniels
July 4, 2020 (2 days before his death)

Riwaka

Quite a few mechanical planters around the world, usually done where the terrain and site preparation are favorable.

Risutec -Finland
Risutec TK200 Tree Planting Machine - YouTube

Bracke in Brazil (similarities with the Van Horlick's planter in Canada) (also the Bracke P11 & p12 for excavators)
Komatsu D61EM with 3X Bracke planter - YouTube

Plantma-X Sweden
Plantma X Forest trials November 2019 - YouTube

Tractor tree planting - US South (various  including whitfields)
Products | R.A. Whitfield Manufacturing
Columbia Timber Co. Planting Superior Tree Seedlings - YouTube

Denmark - tractor single row - contender for the largest bare rooted seedling stack on a machine.
TTplant Basic GPS RTK Automatic Mechanical Tree Planting System.m4v - YouTube

Dale.NZ

There was a trial down this part of the world that sounded like it went well. Made a local logger magazine and got a write up here as well: https://foresttech.events/mechanical-planting-trials-show-promise/
Yep, retailer -- but I'm learning not selling!

Nils Jonsson

Thank you all! This was very interesting. PlantmaX and Bracke are Swedish so those I've seen in the Swedish forum NOTE FROM ADMIN. LINKS TO OTHER FORUMS ARE NOT ALLOWED. I'm following. The other ones were new to me even though the one Wudman shared a link of, reminds a little of a German system I've seen. Speaking of Bracke: Here is another one of their planters.
Thanks again folks!

SwampDonkey

A lot of those mechanized planters don't work here because your out in unsettled lands, that is glacial sand with a proliferation of rocks and boulders. I could see some mill ground on abandoned farms making use of those 'if' they had the land base. Most mill ground is out in the boonies here, but one local mill has acquired a lot of of farm ground cheaply over the years. So they might consider a machine like that. But out in Deersdale, you better bring along a repair crew and lots of parts. The one with the tractor hauling it (youtube video, claiming to be the fastest planter) umm..........by the end of the week you might need a forensic team to identify the scrap metal. ;D :D

We tried mechanized tree spacing, caused too much damage to crop trees. Then they had the idea to run a grinder/mulch head on a machine to make trails down through thickest, that was the trail of spears. A man on a clearing saw need not worry. The guy wanting to hire one might be having a tougher time. You don't get many youngsters taking it up or lasting a season. Most are over 40 in this gig. ;D A lot of guys want them touch screens in their hands all day so they can run to the truck and check the latest FB post to their relies. :D :D You want productivity to tank get a bunch with those things acting as if it a 'pace maker' that they can't leave home. It's unbelievable how much time in a work week is wasted on nonsense. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

krusty

I spent all my summers as a poor, hungry, broke university student planting trees at $0.085 each. Managed to put 250,000 into the ground and I just cant see machines taking over. The ground never looks clear like that even after scarification. Heck I could have tripled production if there was no slash, lots of soil, and nothing to battle as in those fotos above!

GullyBog

Where I live the land is steep and rough and the parcels are small.  Everything is handplanted.  It's hard to get a migrant crew for small parcels so the state coordinates multiple jobs to make it happen.  The really small stuff falls through the cracks and goes to whoever will do it. I've been that guy and it is a hard way to earn money.  Both labor pools are shrinking.
The big machines need an operator who will cost more than a human planter. Autonomous planters are a reality on agricultural land but they won't work on a lot of forestland yet.  An autonomous machine moving in perfect straight lines is going to end up high centered on a stump or some other mishap frequently enough that it will require a human to deal with even if they aren't in the cab at all times.  Even when autonomous machines are capable of doing this they are hard to transport and expensive to maintain.  A human with a commercial drivers license will earn more than a planter.  A diesel mechanic will earn more than a planter.
Instead of one giant machine that outplants a crew of humans how about a smaller machine that makes one human more efficient and/or makes that human's job easier.
Maybe a drone that uses forced air through a barrel to make the hole and a human that walks along side to position it around stumps and rocks.  The human carries a bag of seedlings or seeds and inserts one into the same barrel that blows out the hole.  I'm imagining the small containerized seedlings with a tiny root ball that is sized to fit the barrel, or seeds coated in clay to make a ball.  The seed balls would allow for a much smaller barrel and that seems more realistic.  After it is in the ground the human can push the loose dirt into the hole with their feet.  Still a low paying outdoor job but no more bending over.  Maybe both, year one drones with seed balls and no humans, year 2 drones plus humans to fill in bare spots with containerized seedlings. You mentioned utopia so I aimed high.
There might be a little dust on the butt log, but don't let if fool ya bout what's inside

Riwaka

The small planter would be the South African Novel pp1. 

 pp1 - south africa
Novelquip PP1 planting with no pit - YouTube

Haleiwa

I used to make a significant part of my living as a field prep contractor for DelMonte pineapple on Oahu.   Pineapple is planted by hand in perfectly straight rows on smooth level fields.  At one point I was asked if I could bring in a mechanized planting system,  and the money was worth looking at it.   There are mechanical planters in development, but nothing that would do the same job on a cost effective basis.  The real problem with pineapple is the variation in plant material; slips, suckers, and crowns of various sizes make it hard to singulate and place the seed piece accurately. 

Automated plug planters, like Speedling developed in the 80s for vegetables get around that issue by indexing on the container rather than the plant, and there are container grown seedlings,  but they cost more to produce and are bulkier than bare root.

Australia plants many thousands of acres of Leucaena for timber and forage, and most of the early crops were set as seedlings,  but now most is direct seeded and thinned if necessary. 

As long as you are planting non containerized plants in variable conditions it's going to be a real challenge to eliminate hand labor. 

Perhaps the best compromise would be mechanical site prep, like a Bugnot grinder/mulcher and direct seeding in a prepared band.  That's not a  cheap system,  but could cover a lot of acres in a day

Socialism is people pretending to work while the government pretends to pay them.  Mike Huckabee

GullyBog

I spent my formative years working in a wholesale greenhouse.  In the beginning there was a long conveyer belt.  Empty plastic trays at one end, humans along the belt filling with soil and planting seeds.  These germinated in the greenhouses then were brought back to the same conveyer belt to be transplanted into trays with larger plastic cells and then returned to the greenhouse for further growth.  Humans watered these plants by hand with hoses.  By the time I left things had already started to change.  The seeds were pelletized with clay or something else that would dissolve so that a robot could handle them and plant them.  Automated booms that were suspended from the roof of the greenhouses watered the plants.  Dozens of jobs became obsolete.  This had to happen, the first week of every summer there would be a hundred new hires, by the end of the day there were fifty that would return the next day.  By the end of the week maybe two dozen would stick out the season.  Minimum wage, 90+ degree temps, 90+% humidity; it wasn't for everybody.  Migrants and machines kept this business growing and it is still doing well, they even have a night shift which is rare for a farm.
But this is a "perfect" scenario.  The seed bed is potting soil in plastic.  The robots are stationary and do one thing.  The time and energy it takes for a skilled operator (even in a control room with a latte) to swing a big iron boom around a cutover to plant pulpwood doesn't make sense.  The easiest thing to change isn't the rough landscape it's the big iron boom.  Hundreds of drones could replace that one 1/2 million dollar machine and if only two dozen last the season it still makes more sense economically.
There might be a little dust on the butt log, but don't let if fool ya bout what's inside

Dale.NZ

Perhaps there'll end up being mixed planting crews out there. 

I mean just because a logging operation has mechanized felling, skidding and processing doesn't mean the crew has no chainsaws on site. That and there's still boatloads of contract fellers in NZ despite a huge uptake of mechanization. 
Yep, retailer -- but I'm learning not selling!

Nils Jonsson

Quote from: Dale.NZ on February 17, 2021, 10:46:06 PM
Perhaps there'll end up being mixed planting crews out there.

I mean just because a logging operation has mechanized felling, skidding and processing doesn't mean the crew has no chainsaws on site. That and there's still boatloads of contract fellers in NZ despite a huge uptake of mechanization.
I think you are absolutely right Dale.NZ. We are far away from 100 % mechanization in forestry. After all; It's nature we are dealing with and that will always be a bit unpredictable. 

Clark

Certainly mechanized planting is not a thing around here. The closest we get is two people: one driving a tractor or dozer the other riding in a trailer that plows a furrow and closes it as the rider places a seedling in it. This is only for ideal sites, basically abandoned ag. 

Given the sandy areas in the upper midwest I could see mechanized planting working on that ground. With no rock it would be relatively easy for the machine to make a hole, put a containerized seedling in it and close the hole. 

Mechanized would only work if you had hundreds or thousands of acres to plant every year. There would have to a huge push for planting trees on all of the marginal ag fields around here. I don't think it will ever happen. 

Clark
SAF Certified Forester

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